Rematching the Autobot

The crystal in his hand once again vanished and he almost couldn't believe it. The MechMod Market had a system of pipelines where people could deliver items from the safety of their own home. They would run through this complex system of pathways to eventually reach its destination or would be placed on high-speed flights if the seller was off-planet.

However, it had just vanished from his hand, and he received a notification on his phone signalling that 55 Earthish Credits had been placed into his account.

Alonso had never received this much money in one go. He could only imagine the things that he could get with this money.

Selling the remaining 7 Spider Dog crystals, he amassed a total of 440 whole credits.

"I could buy a whole module with this! This is insane!"

All that was left was for him to sell his Terrakin crystal and he was hoping that it would go for slightly more. Traversing the complex market, he saw that the general price was around 120 credits.

Selling his for 100 credits, it was gone almost instantly.

[Account: Super_Mech_ADV_101]

[Billing Details] [expand]

[Items on Sale: 0]

[Total Items Sold: 9]

[Currently Bidding Items: 0] [expand]

With 540 credits now sitting in his account, he started to think about his next step. What he was thinking of was using a module of some sort, but he just didn't know what to use.

As a boxer and martial artist, he was mainly a utiliser of all styles. He hadn't specialised in a certain skill but was proficient in all of them. He would fight at long range when he deemed it fit to do so, or enter a brawl when necessary.

This allowed him to almost choose from the numerous paths that were available for himself. However, this made his choice far more intense.

[New Quest!]

[Quest: Energy Shield]

[Attach a suitable energy shield module to your mech and train with such module.]

[Rewards: 1 Skill, 100XP]

Of course! He could use energy shields. Energy shields were a great way to protect against the very destructive attacks from others' mechs. Many mech combatants with proficient energy shield usage were valued on the frontlines for protecting gravely injured combatants from further harm.

It could also allow you to fight for longer as you'd sustain less damage.

Entering the MechMod Market once again, he was taken aback by the price of a basic energy shield module.

The cheapest module that he found was a whopping 940 credits. With 400 credits left to gain once again, he decided that he'd head into that same pocket realm once again.

There were only 3 trips that one could take free with a PRA. After that, they would have to pay to enter dungeon planets, but this would allow people to sometimes take out resources to sell off.

The following day, Alonso used the modules that were at hand at his school to repair his mech. His mech damage was significant and he could feel it as he used it, but he managed to use a healing module throughout the day to totally repair it. His injuries faded also, and once he returned the module to the same facility that he had received his blade module from, he was ready to go.

His parents were a bit suspicious from the amount of time he was spending out of the house. He would come back home late at night but judging from his appearance, it really did look like he was training.

Charline, his mother, was a lot more concerned while his father was instead proud.

"Do you not think something's up, Alvaro?" Charline asked with concern.

As she said this, she had her mech in the form of a blade across just her hand to cut up vegetables.

Alonso's father moved away the holograms that were surrounding him from his mobile projector using just a swipe of his arm.

"Nope. He just knows that he must catch up to his comrades. I can see the fire in him, I can see it burning when I look into his eyes. He'll be a better mech combatant than me, I'm sure of it." His father said, with a smile of pride.

For most people, they would hear of his genetic score 0.11 and immediately write off his claim as false hope. However, he felt there was something different about him. Weaker students would usually fall under the pressure of seeing stronger students with better talent excel.

Instead, Alonso reacted in pretty much the opposite way. He rose to the occasion.

Alonso entered the same dungeon planet and decided to try and stay away form the Terrakin that he had met before. He didn't want to have to be placed in that same situation and didn't see the need to break down his mech in that way.

Unluckily, he couldn't sell any items from this particular dungeon planet since the MechMod Market hadn't been extended to this pocket realm. Certain pocket realms, usually with high populations, would have modes of delivery where items would be sent between the realms.

It was very handy for certain mech combatants that were out in harsh terrain and required resources on the fly. It just further integrated humans that were scattered across the galaxy and realms.

He encountered various spider dogs, but he used his heat slash to dismantle them in the same way. He did note that his skill took a decent volume of power to use.

So, he took his leave as soon as he could and returned home to sell the 10 spider dog crystals he had gained for a higher 60 credit price.

600 credits entered his account, and this amount of money made him feel a warm sensation inside his body. The amount of money he had was insane to him, and he snatched up the 940 credit module he had previously seen before it was gone.

Instead of having to go to the closest delivery pipeline opening -which was just in his apartment complex- the item appeared in his palm.

Before he could even perceive it, the module integrated itself into his mech and collected itself over his two forearms. It was slightly lighter than his black mech but was still a dull cement-like grey.

He imagined the activation of this module and then, two energy shields were projected from his forearms to hover over them. They were golden and slightly translucent.

Giving these shields a quick look, he slammed his left shield with his right arm and noticed that his hand was rebounded right off its exterior.

"Woah. A cheap energy shield has this much protection? I should've thought about using this way sooner!" He realised, before deactivating them.

His training ensued and for the first part of his training, he deemed it necessary to try and put his energy shield against heavy resistance. As he did so, once he had learned to form energy shields with just his mech, he could increase its abilities.

Since he was so far behind and due to his social background, his school was more lenient on letting him have more training resources. Much to his delight, he was allowed to face a Level 1 autobot once again.

He had to be under the surveillance of a few workers, though. These workers usually watched over the communal training rooms in the school's training towers.

An autobot revealed itself to him and special ability was the use of powerful projectile weapons.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Gunshots were heard and glowing projectiles were sent toward Alonso, who was forced to try and block them using his energy shield. He could enlarge the energy shields, but their maximum size was no where near sufficient to fully block his body.

Crack!

One of his shields cracked and one of the workers in the stands looked uneasy. It would be a total disaster if a student was to die on their watch and so, they weren't going to see him get battered and bloodied.

"I'm fine!" Alonso called back, before he dashed to the side.

Using the maximum speed of his mech, he could see that the autobot was having trouble trying to track him. Its tracking abilities were certainly above any human without their mech but not enough to hit him.

Alonso landed a precise strike to its face and his superior strength made his punch cause considerable damage. Once the autobot tried to throw some punches of his own, he already had his energy shields ready to take the brunt of the damage.

He could feel himself getting forced back slightly but he was receiving no damage whatsoever.

Seeing an opening, Alonso deactivated his shields and rushed in to unleash a wave of blows onto the autobot. His increased strength was certainly showing, and the spectators looked slightly more at ease as he battled.

Due to his technique, he could see the punches coming his way and could manage them quite well. Soon enough, the autobot began glitching and sparking then Alonso finished it off with a quick heat slash to its neck.

The feeling he got after triumphing over this autobot in this way was great. He could see how he was making progress, since he seriously struggled against an autobot of this level before.

Now, he had defeated it without receiving an attack himself.